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Alexander Shlemenko has filed a lawsuit against the California State Athletic Commission following his three-year suspension and $10,000 fine for a failed post-fight drug test after his Bellator 133 knockout of Melvin Manhoef.
The punishment – especially the three-year suspension – was the harshest penalty the commission has handed a fighter since it began regulating MMA in 2006...

Two titles will be on the line Oct. 23, as former middleweight champion Brandon Halsey will vie for Bellator's vacant 185-pound strap against streaking Brazilian Rafael Carvalho in Bellator 144's co-headlining bout...

Melvin Guillard’s Bellator debut did not go according to plan. The former UFC lightweight contender dropped a split decision to handpicked opponent Brandon Girtz in the main event of Bellator 141 on Friday.
Girtz’s (13-4 MMA, 5-3 BMMA) combination of punching power and explosive takedowns gave Guillard (34-14-2 MMA, 0-1 BMMA) fits for the majority of the contest. “The Young Assassin” nearly scored a finish in the final minutes of the 155-pound contest, but throughout most of the fight his strike count was below the norm.
A “shattered” right hand was likely a contributing factor.

The opening round matchups for next month’s four-man, single-night Bellator MMA light heavyweight tournament have been set, as Muhammed Lawal meets Linton Vassell, and Phil Davis faces Emanuel Newton.
The pairings, which were conducted via random draw following Thursday’s Bellator 141 weigh-ins, were announced on Friday’s Spike TV telecast.
Bellator 142 takes place Sept. 19 at San Jose’s SAP Center. The main card airs live on Spike TV. The “Dynamite” event features both MMA and kickboxing matches.

Justin Wren stroked his prodigious beard, scratched the dry, red skin on his arm and squinted.
"It's kind of crazy we're here," he said. "All that green."
The ivy-covered coffee shop patio about two miles from the campus of UCLA brought Wren back to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And, more specifically, the vision he had that led him to the African nation in the first place.
Four years ago, Wren was an MMA fighter struggling with addiction and depression, looking for something else of value in his life. During a spiritual retreat, he found it even if he didn't know where it was.

Here’s a summary from Albarracin:
Tensions were High between fight camps as Patricky and Saad Awad signed posters for This fridays #Bellator141 , as Bellator World Champ Patricio Pitbull caught the eye of possíble title contender Georgi Karakanyan , They have been going back on forth on Twitter and their twitter beef carried over into Bellator check In Room . Needless to say fireworks ensued. Saad step up to calm down his training partner , Patricky Pitbull got riled up. Joinha and Bellator oficials served as arbitrators . Leandro Higo as ref. Friday the cage closes on Spike TV and Pitbull and Saad will get after it at Bellator141 co-main event and Patricio Pitbull vs.Georgi will have be at a later date as he can’t look past another war with former champion Daniel Strauss . Stay tuned.

Bellator MMA announced on Wednesday the signing of highly sought after wrestling prospect Tyrell Fortune to an exclusive, multi-fight contract.
The 25-year-old’s focus is currently set on the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, which he will attempt to qualify for during Olympic Trials next April. Regardless of whether or not he makes the team, Fortune hopes to have his first heavyweight mixed martial arts contest in early 2016.

Bellator MMA president Scott Coker has announced that three of the biggest MMA legends will be in attendance for Bellator’s Fan Fast on Sept. 19 in San Jose, which is apart of their next major event, ‘Bellator: Dynamite 1'.
Fedor Emelianenko, Kazushi Sakuraba and Frank Shamrock will all be apart of the proceedings. So does this mean Fedor is close to entering the Bellator cage? It would make sense since Coker and Fedor have worked together in the past, but the Bellator boss says they actually haven’t talked to Fedor’s camp about his return.

One day recently, Phil Davis had to sit down and edit all his social media. Those are the kinds of things that happen when you leave one job for another -- or, in Davis' case, go from one MMA promotion to another.

For at least one event, Patricio Freire has bragging rights, and he’s making the most of it.
The Bellator featherweight champion today riled up fellow titleholder Will Brooks today during a Twitter squabble. And it’s all due to their placement on an upcoming card.

Marcos Galvao will put his bantamweight title on the line for the first time when he meets Eduardo Dantas in a rematch at Bellator 144.
Galvao (17-6-1 MMA, 9-2 BMMA) and Dantas (17-4 MMA, 7-1 BMMA) will headline the card at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., on Oct. 23. Bellator officials announced the event today. The main card will air on Spike TV following prelims on MMAjunkie.

The never-ending conflict in mixed martial arts between management and labor, or should we say between promoters and fighters, has really come to the fore this year. Over the last few months an antitrust lawsuit, the new Reebok deal, and the USADA testing policy have sparked debates on fighter pay, lost sponsorship income, and lack of input from the athletes on the rules and regulations governing them. And this is in only in the UFC, never mind the number of complaints that one sees directed at other promotions. All of this has had led to discussions of possible solutions, including perhaps the most serious talk of a fighters association the sport has seen to date.